0Hi all,
Its useful to try out a range of behaviour management strategies to see which ones you feel are most effective for you. Here's one which worked well for me with KS3 students:
I have a pack of raffle tickets and give students a ticket every time I spot the positive behaviour I want to encourage. For eaxample, if I say 'discuss this with your partner', as soon as a pair of students start discussing the question I would give them a ticket each and specify why I'm giving it them so that the rest of the class knows what they did: 'well done, you started to discuss that straight away' or 'I can see you're listening to the rest of your group carefully' Or when students enter the room and an activity is on their desks to get on with during the register: 'well done, you got on with the starter as soon as you came in' . I give tickets out for answering questions, working well in a group, listening to other people, cleaning up well after a practical, starting an activity straight away, keeping their safety glasses on their eyes (if they tend to take them off) etc etc. I found that as soon as I had given a ticket out for something, the other students quickly copied the good behaviour, as so I could give some more out.
The students write their name on the tickets when they get them, and they are put into a bag. Then at the end of the lesson one ticket is drawn from the bag. The 'winner' can choose a prize from a box of prizes I have, such as fancy pencils, stickers etc. You can give out as many tickets as you like, its still only one small prize at the end of the lesson, but it seems to be receiving the ticket and the praise that they really like. Having the tickets in my hand is also a useful reminder to me to praise the behaviour I am looking for.
Does anyone else have any strategies that have worked well for them?